The Berlin captains make their way to the cointoss vs. East Catholic on Sept. 13, 2018. (Pete Paguaga, Hearst Connecticut Media)

The Berlin captains make their way to the cointoss vs. East Catholic on Sept. 13, 2018. (Pete Paguaga, Hearst Connecticut Media)

Berlin takes it to East Catholic

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BERLIN – When Berlin is playing at its best, good luck trying to slow it down.

The high-flying Redcoats offense scored with ease in their 50-0 win over East Catholic on Thursday night at Sage Field.

Three different players scored two touchdowns apiece.

“We just have so many skill players,” Berlin coach Joe Aresimowicz said. “You saw (Andrew) Brouchu, you saw Larry (St. Pierre Jr.,), you saw (Alex) Halkias, you saw (Zach) Hrubiec. Not many teams that have that. We can score from a lot of places. So we put pressure on the defense, they have to react to what we’re doing. Try to stop one thing, we’re going to go with something else.”

Halkias scored two rushing touchdowns, Hrubiec score a rushing and receiving touchdown and St. Pierre a rushing and punt return touchdown. Together, they lit up the scoreboard.

To start the game the Redcoats went to the air. Senior quarterback Kevin Dunn threw touchdowns to Hrubiec and then Brochu.

Then they went to the ground in the second quarter. Halkias scored touchdowns from 41 yards and 3 yards.

St. Pierre then took a punt return 65 yards for a score at the end of the half.

“We’re better than we were last week,” Hrubiec said. “Even with a short week – Saturday to Thursday – we came in with the mentality that we need to be better. Even though we beat (Bulkeley/HMTCA/Weaver) 41-0 we’re always striving to be better and this score reflects that.”

The Berlin defense played well. Not only did it keep East Catholic off the board, but it also didn’t allow the Falcons to cross midfield until the second quarter.

“None of that scheme stuff matters,” East Catholic coach Steve Calande said. “They can do anything they want with the group of kids over there. There’s probably 20 guys on the sideline that would be starting on this side

“The X’s and O’s didn’t make the difference. They ran a formula line, they ran a five-man line. There’s no mystery in that right? It’s people.”

The multi-faceted offense is what makes Berlin a threat and a favorite to many in Class M this season.

Larry St. Pierre takes a punt return 61 yards for a TD as time expires in the first half. XP good

“There’s a lot of competition in (Class) M, but we’re very happy that we are being mentioned,” Aresimowicz said. “If we show up and play our game I think we play can with any team – some scare me more than others, but I think we can play with any team. We have really good kids in this town. We’re lucky.”

Hrubiec said that the team might have looked ahead on their schedule last season, but won’t make that same mistake this year.

“Every week we can get better,” the junior running back said. “Yes this was a great game, obviously, but later in the season the competition gets better or the schedule gets tougher. We need to keep making improvements each week. This can’t be the bar. We have a bright future ahead of us if we keep striving and I think we will.”